Flood-stricken: Over 100,000 families go without Watan cards

Political interference and disaster control authority's mismanagement blamed for fiasco.

ISLAMABAD: Over 100,000 flood-stricken families in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have still not been provided with Watan relief cards by the provincial government due to the mismanagement of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), sources said.

The mismanagement on the part of the district officers and political interference by the ruling parties have been cited as the main reasons for such a state of affairs.

An official of the PDMA, who requested to remain anonymous, told The Express Tribune that lack of manpower forced authorities to depend upon district officials, who were forced by politicians to accept the lists of those 282,000 families who were entitled to receive Watan cards. Each card gives the recipient Rs20,000.

The cards have officially been given to 182,000 flood victim families while the rest are waiting for their turn.

The charge has been levelled by the people of Nowshera which had been hit the hardest by floods in the province.

The district officials and politician are also being accused of preparing fake lists of the affectees. This charge has come mainly from “white collar” flood victims.

The provincial chief of the NDMA, Shakil Qadir, had admitted that an unauthentic list of the flood victims was under investigation. He had also admitted that there was political interference in the process of issuing Watan cards but had added that it was the privilege and prerogative of the elected parliamentarians to influence the process.

The absence of PDMA at the district level has been cited as the actual cause of official mismanagement and political interference. The provincial government has so far not been able to establish District Disaster Management Authorities due to the lack of interest. The NDMA law demanded the establishment of DDMA in each district of the province.

Thousands of flood-ravaged people have been left at the mercy of a disinterested provincial government, noted a World donor body official.

The official who is not authorised to speak to the media said, “We don’t know as to who should be blamed for such mismanagement, adding, “what we know is that the majority of the poor are left to fend for themselves”.

Police baton-charged hundreds of flood-affected women and children who had gathered to receive their witan cards in Nowshera district on Saturday.

The protesting flood victims have alleged that they have been denied Watan cards and other relief goods by the authorities.

After being beaten by police, the flood victims staged protest in front of Nowshera Press Club on Saturday. They accused the provincial minister Pervaiz Khattak of favouritism in the distribution of the debit cards. Such protests and demonstrations by the flood victims in almost all the district of K-P have become a routine.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2010.